Goose, now ducks have swollen necks.

[SoCaClucks]

Has anyone experienced this? Several days ago my young African goose started limping. I thought maybe she just hurt her leg somehow, she's very clumsy. Yesterday I noticed her neck was very swollen. It feels like it's full of air bubbles. She has good appetite but is a little more lethargic than normal, but I'm thinking it's because her leg hurts and she doesn't want to walk as much. Today I notice that several of my ducks have also developed swollen neck, but otherwise appear fine.
I can't find any helpfull info on the internet, so if anyone has any ideas of what this might be, I'd sure appreciate any help.

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

Any chance they have been around a hornet or wasp nest or honey bee hive. Sounds like bees may be stinking them.

 

[SoCaClucks]

I haven't seen much bee activity around here. I did switch from crumbles to pellet food just 3 days prior. Could they be getting impacted crops or something. Today the goose seems to have a hard time keeping water down. Every time she honked, fluid would come out her beak and she shook her head to to get more out.

 

[ejctm]

Perhaps they gorged on the pellets too much first time? Are they given enough grit? This will help them grind down the pellets, which should mush down eventually and not impact them. Things like long grass and hay are more likely to impact them as they are harder to grind.

My ducks were all vomiting dirty looking water one day and I was really worried they were ill, but it turned out they had just gorged on the water too much (it was a hot day). You can massage the lumps to help the pellets break up which should help, and perhaps remove the food for half a day to give them a bit of time.

If the crops are squishy (like a water balloon) rather than firm and hard when you press them, then it could be either water gorging (as above with mine, in which case do nothing) or sour crop which is where the crop contents go rancid. If this is the case (which sounds unlikely if it happened to all of them at the same time, and if they are otherwise healthy) then you can hold them upside down and massaging the crops so the liquid drains out. it will be black and foul smelling. You have to make sure they don't breathe in the liquid too. There are other threads about sour crop on the chicken pages of BYC that could be of help to you, so I suggest reading these. If this treatment does not appeal, then feeding live bio-active yoghurt can help.

Others might have better suggestions...